Research into infectious causes of chronic diseases tends to ask narrow questions, such as whether patients with one chronic disease have a particular pathogen. When the research does not show every patient has the same pathogen, it is reported as an “association”. Another research study may ask if patients with the same chronic disease have a different pathogen, and when the research does not show every patient has the same pathogen, it is again reported as an “association”. More than one immortal pathogen can cause the same chronic disease; thus, different research studies report different immortal pathogens as an “association” and no one reports an infectious cause.

Researchers need to ask broader questions, to determine which infectious pathogens are present in patients with chronic disease, and use sophisticated testing for hundreds of pathogens, rather than seeking to identify one pathogen at a time in one chronic disease at a time. Research into all potential infectious pathogens in each chronic disease could identify infectious causes, and the combinations of infectious pathogens that cause a chronic disease.